Local children could be flying through the air at a new indoor entertainment park in Wilmington by 2023.

Three Wilmington residents – Zeb Hadley, Caleb Kratsa and Jason Ruegg, who is also president and founder of Off the Hook Yachts – partnered to bring a franchise of Urban Air Adventure Park to Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“We’ve been talking about doing some different types of investments and stumbled upon Urban Air Adventure Park,” Hadley said. “We realized it would be a pretty good fit for Wilmington because there's nothing like it in the area.”

While Wilmington does have entertainment options that include two trampoline parks and Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park, the local Urban Air Adventure Park is expected to have a number of different recreational and entertainment offerings, with the added bonus for adults of serving wine and beer.

“We’re looking to partner with Wilmington Brewing Company to be our preferred beverage vendor,” Hadley said.

Along with 2,000 square feet of trampolines, Urban Air in Wilmington could also include indoor skydiving, a Sky Rider that involves strapping into a harness and zigzagging over the park, flip-and-spin bumper cars, climbing walls, a ropes course, immersive dodge ball, ninja warrior obstacles, go-karts, wireless virtual reality and more.

In addition, the local park is expected to have 10 to 15 party rooms.

The Wilmington group has been working on securing a location for a 35,000- to 50,000-square-foot park. Hadley said they hope to have the doors open at the Wilmington and Myrtle Beach facilities by the first quarter of 2023.

He said demand appears to be high in the Wilmington area for family fun, even outside of summer.

“We're not basing our business on tourism; we're here for the local market, for the moms and dads looking for an outlet where they can take their family to have fun, be safe, have a drink or two and be in a relaxing environment,” Hadley said.

The Urban Air Park is expected to employ four managers and 85 to 100 full- and part-time workers. 

Urban Air Adventure Park, which is part of the children's franchise platform Unleashed Brands, has signed 31 new franchise agreements in the past six months. That breaks the record for the most agreements signed in the first half of the year since the company started franchising in 2014, according to a July news release.

Currently, Urban Air has more than 150 parks and 85 in development.